duck confit and more - part 2

I used to be afraid of eating duck. I used to be afraid of cooking duck as I had little idea what to do with it. My recent trying of my hands on making duck confit cured all these.


I used to avoid duck thinking it has so much fat. The truth is duck meat is much leaner than chicken meat. The fat of the duck is on the skin. With many cooking technique you can eat the skin too because the most of the fat is rendered out.

Here is a large duck I bought and the meals resulted from it. Six meals all counted from a $13 duck.

i bought it from an asian grocery store - it is as whole as they come

breaking down the pieces

 2 beasts for 2 meals

 i was going to throw away the head but decided to keep it for making the broth with the carcass

 i trimmed out the skin

marinating the legs for making duck confit - it would sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours

 making a meal with the duck breast

i learnt to use medium low heat to render out the fat from the skin without burning; this cooks the skin side meat just right also avoid the need for a trip to the oven

 this is my homemade rhubarb orange concentrate with a dash of curry powder added for kick

even the skin is not wasted - i render the fat for used in making the duck confit

i now have a dedicated container to save the duck fat - i ate the rendered skins too as snack; something i would not do years ago bombarded by the anti-saturated fat campaigns

the broth resulted from the carcass and the feet

the feet with the webs cooked with the carcass - you will see what i do with it later

 another meal of duck breast

 

 brown the skin under the infra broiler in my gas oven

this version with red wine sauce made with the duck broth

salt and pepper and deep fried

a humble but delicious eat - the rice noodle is made with the duck broth with mushrooms and asian chives

 the duck feet are delicious - only wished there were more

 while duck confit is traditionally made only with the hind legs, I prepared the wings the same way

 

the two legs being cooked in low temperature in the duck fat rendered from the skin - did I mention i ate the skin too as snack after render out the fat; note the pot is offset from the burner to keep the temperature from getting too high

 first duck confit meal

 second duck confit meal